Service Learning= Love

If someone would have told me that by my Junior year of college I would practically be teaching my own courses, you would have certainly found one shocked College Girl.

Our entire university has an overwhelming sense of service, whether it is through Alternative Spring Break trips, volunteering within the community, or joining organizations on campus with extensive and involved philanthropies. This drive for service even carries over into the different programs of study that can be found on our campus.

My particular focus, Communication, offers several different options to develop a groundwork of skills and theories, then put them into use with community programs run entirely by groups of our students.

My first Service Learning class took place last year in the fall. We began the semester learning about theories and practices of Organizational Communication through group presentations and lecture. Mid-fall, we were each presented with a client, or a local organization (typically non-profit) and were told to communicate with them to find out their needs and how we could meet them through planning an event or a series of events. My group was partnered with a non-profit office near campus whose main focus was children's literacy. The "Gus Bus" traveled around like a library on wheels and often provided educational events to enhance the kid's learning experiences. We helped to plan a family fun night in an underprivledged community involving food and drinks, an outdoor movie, crafts and activities and of course lots of reading! Though our learning partner was at times VERY difficult to work with and very demanding, it was an amazing learning experience to compromise with a tough client, work within the bounds of a zero dollar budget, and still create a special event.

The second service learning experience I had here took place in the spring semester of last year. This class was titled Communication Training and basically equipped us with the skill set to create training plans, facilitate ice breakers and assess the effectiveness of training. Throughout the semester, we had maybe one or two days of true lecture. The class was divided up into groups of two training partners, and each were presented with a topic that would be typically presented in lecture. In order to practice for our foray into training outside groups, we each taught a section to the class in an interesting, meaningful way complete with snacks, ice breakers and activities. The second part of the class involved each student creating or choosing an icebreaker activity and presenting it to the class. Everybody loved a little bit of getting up, being creative and moving around each class and it truly brought the class together by the end of the semester. The last component in the course was that each training team had to secure a client with a training need. From there, we were to use the skills we had gathered and create an extensive training plan, execute the plan and then review with our class the high points as well as reflect on our struggles and things we learned.

Overall, these two courses have taught me more than any other class that I have been enrolled in. It is an amazing feeling to be trusted so surely and a true test of knowledge to employ it outside the classroom. I can't wait to take my next service learning course in the spring!